Introduction

The recent global financial crisis highlighted a number of global, regional and national financial issues that should be addressed in future years. Policy makers, international institutions and academics have attempted to address some of the underlying causes of the recent global financial crisis. In this attempt, some researchers had to go back to earlier, relevant studies and review the way markets, institutions and financial systems have evolved. Some of these past research studies could shed light on the lessons learnt from previous financial crises.

To this end, the Journal of Banking and Finance (JBF) has decided to create some Virtual Special issues, based on the past published papers from the 2000s and 1990s as a way of assisting those researchers and policy makers who wish to review some of the relevant research on certain important financial themes that shed light on the evolution of markets, institutions and global and regional financial architectures over the last 20 years or so.